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In Brief

The story behind the Anthes Building

UCAR's newest site takes on a new name

1 November 2010 •Richard Anthes suspected something was up when the UCAR Board of Trustees, minus himself, trooped to the stage at the institution’s 50th birthday dinner on 5 October (see picture at bottom). “When they started showing photos of my childhood, I really knew something was coming.”

Rick Anthes in front of 3375 Mitchell Lane with the Anthes Building plaque.

The surprise—for Rick and for most of the other 400-plus people in attendance—was the board’s designation of 3375 Mitchell Lane as the Anthes Building. Acquired in 2009, the structure is now being remodeled and will eventually house part of NCAR’s Research Applications Laboratory.

Given Anthes’ 22 years to date as president of UCAR, the building designation was a “no-brainer” for trustees, according to board chair Rana Fine (University of Miami), who organized other board members around the idea. “Rick Anthes has provided such excellent leadership for our community over the half-life of NCAR and UCAR that we really wanted to honor his contributions,” says Fine.

Anthes says he was “totally surprised and shocked” by the board’s honor: “I thought the board might be giving me a gift of some kind, but I never expected anything like this, ever.” When called to the podium, he adds, “I was pretty much speechless. Trustee Shirley Malcolm [AAAS] gave me an escape when she said loudly but kindly, ‘You don’t have to say anything!’ ”

Staff will begin moving into the Anthes Building in the summer of 2011. A plaque presented to Anthes at the 50th dinner will hang in the building’s lobby.

The site of the Mesa Lab was dubbed the Walter Orr Roberts Mesa in honor of UCAR’s founding president. However, as noted by UCAR associate vice president of business services Jeff Reaves, “3375 Mitchell Lane, a.k.a. the Anthes Building, is the first UCAR-owned building to be named for an eminent scientist – and a living one at that.”